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stillalivesomehow's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
wrendeavor's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
One of the best fantasy romance books I've read in a long time, I'm completely endeared to the entire cast of characters and hooked on Foz' writing.
vagaybond's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Self harm, Murder, Blood, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Outing, Vomit, Violence, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, and Rape
Moderate: Confinement, Xenophobia, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Cursing
Rape is one of the first scenes in the book. This scene is stumbled upon by someone else and the protagonist (the victim in the scene) is outed and exiled from his family and homeland because of it. The protagonist has 2 suicide attempts, the second because he fears rape.goobdiddy's review
3.0
Not bad, but not great. I know this is in the romantasy genre, but I honestly expected the fantasy setting to be more prominent. Instead, this was ALL about the relationships between the characters, and I just wasn't very interested in them (except maybe for a couple of the side characters). There is supposed to be magic use in this world, but it really doesn't impact the story at all until the last 50 pages or so. I'm adding the sequel to my TBR, but we'll see if I get to it.
smolhandsdan's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Self harm, Sexual content, Stalking, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment
centesimal's review
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Enjoyable read. I found the culture and politics interesting. The mystery...wasn't much of a mystery, which diluted some of the fun of the politics, because it should have been very obvious to the first-person POV who was behind everything. I am going to check out the second book, but this is one that I enjoyed the world but I doubt anything about the story or characters will really stick with me beyond a general sense of the world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Rape, and Blood
ellis_the_larcenist's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
I love gay. I love fantasy. I love betrayal.
_wastelandbaby's review
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I didn't expect this book to be so good.
Firstly I love a good slow burn, add to it arranged marriage and political intrigue, and it's basically a book of my dreams. But I read some reviews complaining that the description omitted the trauma that the main character deals with through a whole book and that the SA at the beginning was quite sudden and not pleasant to read, do I've become quite wary.
Thankfully, I still decided to read this book and I actually didn't mind them, maybe it was because I knew what to actually expect. So maybe refrain from reading if these themes are not for you.
Anyway, back to the book, starting with the positives.
What I really loved was how the author refrained from using one of the easiest slow burn tricks - miscommunication. Quite the contrary, our main characters Vel and Cae are honest to each other from (almost) the beginning, which helps build an amazing relationship between them. That relationship is my favourite part of the book.
And yes there's quite a lot of thinking about the past traumas, but it's not overshadowing the rest of the story
As for the political plot, the intrigue is quite good. I must admit I didn't expect that ending, but I don't really focus much on the clues, preferring everything to unravel on its own.
Another really nicely written part of the book is the world building. Clearly the author spent a lot of time creating both of the cultures that we explore and the magic system, I would love to see more books happening in the same universe.
As for the negatives, I don't have a lot of them, but I was quite annoyed with the POVs. In Vel's chapters we had first-person pov, but in Cae's the pov was third person. I'm not sure why it's like this, every time the pov switched I needed a chapter to get used to it.
The other thing is the length of the book, for me it was too long. Some things were too detailed, we actually had whole days described from the beginning to the end. I was quite surprised to realize that everything happened in a span of the week or two? (Actually, is it still slow burn, then? 😂)
Other than these two things, I had a great time reading this and hopefully will read the second book in the series soon.
vengefuldime's review
2.0
There’s a lot that just didn’t click with me that I can chalk up to romance-specific tropes, so no big deal. (Ex. black and white morality of good/bad kingdoms, lack of character development outside main couple) However, upon further reflection there are a few issues I have that are separate from genre.
Firstly, the worldbuilding is incredibly underdeveloped. It is understandable for a book that focuses almost entirely on the romance, but a problem when the mystery plot is expected to be taken seriously. I was unimpressed with the reveal, and I think that the story needed more outlining of magical expectations and influence in order to be impactful and entertaining. The plot is simply not set up. I did like the application of magic in this world as a talent- widespread, some more inclined naturally, needing practice. I don’t think that it needed that much more attention to magic to be ok, but with the lack that it had it felt very noticeable.
Secondly, the tone doesn’t cohere. Based on my understanding of recommendations and the author’s note, I expected the main character to experience emotional anguish and a slow healing throughout the book. I am sure that that is something comforting to many, and exactly what they are looking for with fiction. It does start off that way, and to my knowledge his emotions/experiences are treated with a great deal of respect. I do feel very conflicted because of the obvious care regarding his trauma. However, the two main plots feel disjointed. The romance is very quick to progress and has a romantic comedy feel when Velasin is not terrified (early on, again). This isn't to say that there is one right way to recover, and Velasin does mention wanting to take back his own control- but it really is so fast it feels like a lie. Then again, this is a romance. Then again, rape is an incredibly meaningful topic... I want to feel like this book was able to combine a deep sense of love and acceptance with the darkness, but I struggle to.
The romance is cute. They clearly work well together, and it is easy to see their affection. I personally wished for a smidge more of interpersonal conflict, since they are both so careful, but they do a good job of carrying the emotions of soothing acceptance to the reader. Once the romance really kicks in that is it. However, since the use of darker topics then ends up feeling used solely for romantic reason rather than being an aspect of Velasin’s character, it becomes a little jarring. It really feels like his healing is not supported with care from others, but that he is cured because he is in love. I don’t feel that the book can be both things that it tries to be.
Firstly, the worldbuilding is incredibly underdeveloped. It is understandable for a book that focuses almost entirely on the romance, but a problem when the mystery plot is expected to be taken seriously. I was unimpressed with the reveal, and I think that the story needed more outlining of magical expectations and influence in order to be impactful and entertaining. The plot is simply not set up. I did like the application of magic in this world as a talent- widespread, some more inclined naturally, needing practice. I don’t think that it needed that much more attention to magic to be ok, but with the lack that it had it felt very noticeable.
Secondly, the tone doesn’t cohere. Based on my understanding of recommendations and the author’s note, I expected the main character to experience emotional anguish and a slow healing throughout the book. I am sure that that is something comforting to many, and exactly what they are looking for with fiction. It does start off that way, and to my knowledge his emotions/experiences are treated with a great deal of respect. I do feel very conflicted because of the obvious care regarding his trauma. However, the two main plots feel disjointed. The romance is very quick to progress and has a romantic comedy feel when Velasin is not terrified (early on, again). This isn't to say that there is one right way to recover, and Velasin does mention wanting to take back his own control- but it really is so fast it feels like a lie. Then again, this is a romance. Then again, rape is an incredibly meaningful topic... I want to feel like this book was able to combine a deep sense of love and acceptance with the darkness, but I struggle to.
The romance is cute. They clearly work well together, and it is easy to see their affection. I personally wished for a smidge more of interpersonal conflict, since they are both so careful, but they do a good job of carrying the emotions of soothing acceptance to the reader. Once the romance really kicks in that is it. However, since the use of darker topics then ends up feeling used solely for romantic reason rather than being an aspect of Velasin’s character, it becomes a little jarring. It really feels like his healing is not supported with care from others, but that he is cured because he is in love. I don’t feel that the book can be both things that it tries to be.
alchemizaak's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
While a little slow to start, I thought that this book really picked up speed halfway through. Though this is definitely a book to read with a physical copy and not one to just listen to with an audio book.
No fault of the book's, but I found it very hard to keep up with all the characters and names and titles while listening to the audio book. This is definitely one that I'll have to get in paperback and re-read.
I loved the prose in this book, and the switching between first and third person.
I think the harder, more serious topics were dealt with well in this book. And I liked that the world was not without homophobia and transphobia, but that it was also there to highlight how wrong those beliefs are. It tied into the story well which made talks about queer characters feel more natural and not just pushed in there.
I had no idea this book would have magic in it and at times it feels like the book itself forgets that this is a world with magic, however slight it might be, and I with that they had focused more on that. I think it would've made the ending more impactful.
The ending is why this book isn't a 4 or even 5 star book though. It came out of nowhere, with no build up, no leads back to the twist, nothing. And then suddenly magic is involved in a way more significant way and I just didn't care for it.
The main couple felt a bit instant lovey, with no real character conflict. I understand this is a book about healing, but I would've liked a little...just more in general from the main characters.
Overall a wonderful read that I would highly recommend! Sorry to my wonderful fiancé for reading this before her.
No fault of the book's, but I found it very hard to keep up with all the characters and names and titles while listening to the audio book. This is definitely one that I'll have to get in paperback and re-read.
I loved the prose in this book, and the switching between first and third person.
I think the harder, more serious topics were dealt with well in this book. And I liked that the world was not without homophobia and transphobia, but that it was also there to highlight how wrong those beliefs are. It tied into the story well which made talks about queer characters feel more natural and not just pushed in there.
I had no idea this book would have magic in it and at times it feels like the book itself forgets that this is a world with magic, however slight it might be, and I with that they had focused more on that. I think it would've made the ending more impactful.
The ending is why this book isn't a 4 or even 5 star book though. It came out of nowhere, with no build up, no leads back to the twist, nothing. And then suddenly magic is involved in a way more significant way and I just didn't care for it.
The main couple felt a bit instant lovey, with no real character conflict. I understand this is a book about healing, but I would've liked a little...just more in general from the main characters.
Overall a wonderful read that I would highly recommend! Sorry to my wonderful fiancé for reading this before her.